The Editor's Desk

Posted: Wednesday, September 14, 2011

By

D'OH: The Banner-Herald's Sept. 7 editorial criticizing Gov. Nathan Deal's proposal to provide extra compensation for the best teachers of reading in pre-kindergarten through third grade included a suggestion that other teachers deserved improved salaries as well. In particular, the editorial wondered why science and math teachers who inspired students in those subject areas shouldn't be compensated better than some of their peers.

Well, as it turns out, and as I should have remembered, the state already differentiates pay for math and science teachers. As someone in the governor's communications office was quick to remind me after reading the editorial, "(a) newly-certified math or science teacher starts at a fifth-year teacher's salary level. The same goes for a second, third or fourth-year teacher -- they are bumped to fifth-year teaching salaries. Additionally, elementary school teachers with a math or science endorsement also receive a $1,000 per year stipend for as long as they teach."

So, contrary to what I know many of you want to believe about your favorite editorial page editor, I'm not perfect. My apologies to you, and to the governor, for making a false comparison in the Sept. 7 editorial.

NOW, THAT'S A MAYOR: One of the things that infuriates me about politicians -- particularly those who represent limited number of people across a limited geographic area, like, say, the smallest county in the state and the smaller commission districts within that county, or a state legislative district that hopscotches across parts of two or three counties -- is the careful and colorless way in which they relate to local media. I've always wanted to tell those folks, as I guess I'm doing now, that the stakes in their little fiefdoms aren't so high that they need to measure every word they say whenever a reporter or editor is within earshot.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, I give you -- well, actually, San Diego's CityBeat gives you -- an interview with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders on his "beer agenda" for economic development. Here's how Mayor Sanders closes the interview: "There's two things I live for -- tapping a cask and giving proclamations. Everything else is the slop." You can read the whole interview online at bit.ly/p07Mia.

If you'd like to see Sanders' serious side, check out the YouTube video of a 2007 news conference where he explains his change of mind on gay marriage, online at bit.ly/oLJWIC. And while you're watching, try to imagine any politician you know being that honest with his or her constituents.